Computer Gaming World

THE RED BARON LIVES!

by Denny Atkin

NO. 133, AUGUST 1995, Page 129

THE MAJORITY OF SIMULATIONS ARE FLASHES IN the pan---they're hot for a few
months, but soon they're gone and forgotten. As PCs get faster and more
capable, new sims come along that look, sound, and act more like real vehicles.
Few of us take the time to remember, much less replay, older sims. Sure,
you occasionally find folks still playing CHUCK YEAGER'S AIR COMBAT, SECRET
WEAPONS OF THE LUFTWAFFE, and F-15 STRIKE EAGLE III, but when was the last
time you heard someone mention flying around in BLUE MAX, SOLO FLIGHT, or
even PACIFIC STRIKE?

On a very rare occasion, though, a simulation comes along that's so good that
it stays available on store shelves not for weeks or months but for years.
Ahead of their times, these sims pack so much realism and play value that
they're able to stay competitive with their younger counterparts.
This short list includes sims such as Spectrum HoloByte's FALCON 3.0,
Sublogic's ATP and Dynamix's RED BARON.

These classic simulations remain fun, but they can be frustrating
once you've gotten accustomed to the bells and whistles of newer simulations.
Many don't support alternate input devices, while others don't run well on
fast machines, and some just suffer from a limited number of missions or
gameplay options.

If nostalgia strikes, don't let these setbacks keep you away from the
cockpits of your favorite old flight simulators. Thanks to the efforts of
some code-savvy flight sim fans, there are add-ons galore in the freeware and
shareware arenas that can bring old sims up to speed.

BARON DOWN

Take, for example, Run BARON. Released in the dark ages of 1990, this
sim from Damon Slye's team at Dynamix featured a revolutionary flight
model complete with realistic spills and energy bleed. Amazingly, RED BARON
is still selling today as part of CD-ROM bundles with other Dynamix
flight sims.

In the five years since RED BARON's release, only Origin's WINGS OF
GLORY has challenged it for the title of best World War I sim. But RED BARON
does have some problems on today's PCs. It runs too fast on Pentium systems,
which not only affects realism and gameplay, but also screws up the program's
AI calculations. Also, its support of enhanced control devices isn't
up to par with modern sims; rudder support isn't proportional, and extra
buttons and view hats are ignored on non-programmable devices.

Programmers have poked around in RED BARON's program and data files
over the years and found workarounds for these limitations. Checking
CompuServe's flight sim forum (FSForum) I found dozens of patches, TSRs,
and mission files designed to bring RED BARON up to par. While we wait for
RED BARON II, these enhancements can make the golden oldie fly like a
factory-fresh sim. After application of a few of these patches, about
the only thing missing from RED BARON is SVGA graphics.

THE X FILE

The simplest way to bring RED BARON up to speed is with Bob Church's
XBARON patch. The most recent version as of this writing, XBARON 1.46,
addresses nearly all of RED BARON's problems on fast machines. Most
significant is the Frame Rate Limiter, which keeps screen updates from
taking place so fast that the program doesn't operate properly. RED BARON
does flight model calculations between screen updates, and if those updates
take place too quickly, then the program doesn't have time to complete its
calculations, making aircraft control difficult and causing computer-controlled
enemies to fly strangely. XBARON limits the frame rate so that your Sopwith
Camel won't speed over the landscape like an F-15. The screen up-dates still
look silky smooth, though.

The Frame Rate Limiter also works in RED BARON's VCR mode and fixes a
problem that's plagued all the Dynamix flight simulators. If you record a
mission on a Pentium 90 and display it on a 486/33, the tape doesn't
play back properly. If both systems are running an XBARON-patched version of
RED BARON, though, everything plays back at the proper speed. XBARON also adds
new functions for manually accelerating or decelerating tape playback.

XBARON also adds one of the most flexible joystick configuration
screens I've ever seen. You can set a dead zone where stick
movement has no effect (great if your joystick doesn't center precisely),
and adjust joystick sensitivity by altering the response curves for each axis.

RED BARON does support an analog throttle and rudder pedals,
but only in a very limited fashion. The inputs work as if they're coming
from the keyboard---moving the throttle jumps the setting by 10
percent, and hitting the rudder pedals makes the rudder deflect 100 percent.
XBARON patches the throttle to work as a true proportional throttle, making
for smooth engine adjustments. It also supports proportional rudder response,
so you can kick the rudder over a little or a lot. You can even set up a
partial aileron-rudder linkage so the plane will realistically roll a little
when the rudder pedals are depressed.

Up to four joystick buttons can be programmed for a variety of functions,
including setting various views, "blipping" the engine power, and unjamming
the guns. XBARON 1.46 also supports the Thrustmaster-style view hat, but not
the one on the CH Flightstick Pro.

Once XBARON is set up by patching the RED BARON executable and
running XB-SETUP, it's completely transparent. The freeware program works on
both the original floppy version of the program, as well as the slightly
enhanced CD-ROM update.

CASTING A HEX

XBARON makes some changes to RED BARON to make it smoother
running and easier to control, but it doesn't alter the gameplay. If you
want to dive into RED BARON's guts and change how it works, Joe Scoleri's
RB-HEX 3 is the package for you. It includes a hex editor and a full
explanation of the various values in RED BARON's data files so that you can
go in and change almost any value in the simulation. You can alter aircraft
performance, gun field of fire, service ceiling, wing strength, and a
host of other values. If you don't feel one of the planes really performs
like the real thing, change the performance. You can even use the patches
to alter an existing aircraft so it simulates another fighter not
included in RED BARON. One warning: Hex editing is a bit dangerous. If you
alter the wrong value, you can cause the program to malfunction or even crash,
But the program is pretty easy to use, and if you follow the detailed
instructions you should have no problems.

Along with the editor, RB-HEX includes a number of prebuilt patches.
You can use these to lessen the likelihood of mid-air collisions, make wing
strength more realistic on some of the fighters, turn some single-gun planes
into twin-gunners, and adjust some improper performance values. My favorite
additions, though, are the Blitz Machine fighter and Blitz Bomber,
ultra-powerful and completely unrealistic planes thrown in just for fun.
The Blitz Machine is a blast to fly when you want to mow down everything in
your path (imagine flying an A-10 in the first World War). Like XBARON,
RB-HEX is freeware.

A PLANE OF A DIFFERENT COLOR

Also from Joe Scoleri comes RB COLOR, a neat little utility that
lets you customize aircraft color schemes. If you've always wanted to fly
a Sopwith Snipe with yellow wings and a blue fuselage, now you can. You
might want to duplicate a particular ace's color scheme, or perhaps change
both enemy and allied aircraft to the same color scheme to make combat even
more challenging. The unregistered version only lets you fly color-altered
Sopwith Snipes and Fokker D.VIIs, but the $10 full program lets you alter
the paint job on any fighter.

There are a host of other patches available. You can turn a
Sopwith Camel into the later Sopwith Dolphin, use ACE-CONTROL to revive dead
pilots and edit your pilot roster, and even fix improper pluralizations in the
MISSION BUILDER. History buffs can use Graham von Cree's RICHTH patch to change
RED BARON to reflect that Richtofen flew a Halberstadt in January, 1917 when
his Albatros was damaged, and a Pfalz in February, 1918 when airframe failure
grounded Fokker Dr.1s.

Once you've fine-tuned the sim, check out the dozens of custom
missions for the RED BARON MISSION BUILDER available online. Some of these
reenact historical battles, while others simply create challenging historical
scenarios.

UPDATES ABOUND

RED BARON's not the only sim with unofficial patches. Break out your
modem or browse your local PD/shareware library and you'll find fixes and
enhancements for FALCON 3.0, SECRET WEAPONS OF THE LUFTWAFFE, ACES OVER EUROPE,
and a host of other sims. Even recent sims have already been enhanced by
enthusiastic programmers---there's a patch floating around the Internet that
lets you fly any of the planes in EA's U.S. NAVY FIGHTERS. Happy hunting!

Copyright (C) 1995 by Ziff-Davis Publishing Co.

Disclaimer

These patches and modifications are not the product of Dynamix nor are they
supported or endorsed by them. These patches have gone through rigorous testing
but the authors assume no responsibility for any damage caused by their use.
Please read all instructions and back up necessary files before running any
of these patches!